Someone list me some of the MUST do side missions. What were your favs?
I gotchu. I think 12 or so of the side missions are witcher 3 quality.
1. Mining Rig mission (probably the weakest of these mentioned but great mimir lore and encounters): Dwarf land
2. Whale side mission (Dwarf land)
3. Freya's Missing Peace (Vanaheim)
4. Sigrun Mission (Midgard)
5/6. Follow the Dog mission and Rescue *that* ally Mission (Vanaheim after second trip contender for best side mission)
7. Return of the River mission as it leads to so much more (Vanaheim)
8. Elven Sanctum mission (Elf realm)
9. Light Freyr's statue mission and then find both halves of the keys to open the one door (Elf realm second open area)
10. The two song of the sands missions (Elf realm the best side missions in the game after their combined jaw dropping ending)
Post Game
1. The broken Prison (Niflheim)
2. The one to get full credits to roll (Dwarf land)
Some of these missions have completely unique enemy encounters, bosses, puzzles, and cinematics not present in the main game and there is constant chatter and discussion amongst characters building them outside the campaign.
Someone else let me know if I have forgotten some.